


the middle of tomorrow and yesterday

by JustAPassingGlance



Category: Glee
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-12
Updated: 2017-08-12
Packaged: 2018-12-14 12:07:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11782851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustAPassingGlance/pseuds/JustAPassingGlance
Summary: Joining the Royal Security Service had just been a lark, an opportunity at some temporary excitement until he figured out what to actually do with his life. Sebastian hadn't expected Blaine or the loyalty and love he inspired.One year turned into two, turned into five, turned into him becoming the head of Blaine’s security.An unwavering presence in King Blaine's life, always three paces behind and just to the right.





	the middle of tomorrow and yesterday

**Author's Note:**

> Because Blaine is obviously Julie Andrews and the world just needed a Joe and Clarisse from the Princess Diaries AU.

Of all the traits that a person could possess, loyalty had never been particularly important to Sebastian Smythe. It had seemed, at best, an inconvenience and, at worst a hazard that got in the way of much more practical things like ambition and success.

And then he had started working for the crown.

It had been a lark when he was fresh out of college and looking for an opportunity to do something (that sounded) impressive and exciting. With his family connections, it had been easy to get into the security forces and his father, a staunch royalist, had been delighted that he was finally taking an interest in the monarchy.

The intention had been that the position would only be temporary, just until he figured out what it was that he wanted to be doing with the rest of his life, and he had never dreamed that it would have become a career.   

And then he met the crown prince, Prince Blaine. Serving on his security team, Sebastian found exactly the kind of glamor, if not excitement, that he had been looking for.

What he hadn’t expected to also find was loyalty.

Blaine was devastatingly handsome and charmingly oblivious to it, in addition to being the perfect embodiment of intelligence, poise, grace, and every virtue that a ruler should possess.

One year in the security service turned into two, turned into five, turned into him becoming the head of Blaine’s security.

It was loyalty and it was love and by mutual agreement they didn’t speak of either.

\---

The love came later, although earlier than he admitted, even to himself. And for the sake of propriety, he pretended that love just meant love and not falling in love.

In the early years, they had had their flirtations, a handful of heated, lingering glances, and one almost kiss on Blaine’s 23rd birthday, which Blaine had to have been too drunk to have any recollection of.

And then Blaine had gotten married to the perfect man. (Perfect being defined by his father’s standards and Blaine's his own. Blaine understood his duty to his country and it was to his country which his heart belonged but in another life and set of circumstances, political savviness would not have been the metric by which he judged his union.)

It had been a successful match, yielding important trade benefits, affection, and two children who quickly became the pride of the kingdom.

It was easier than Sebastian thought it would have been to be shunted aside. Maybe because he had always known it was coming. No matter how decently off his family was, he never would have qualified as an appropriate match for a prince. And he had never been the type to dream of settling down. Casual dalliances were about all the commitment he could muster, married as he was to his job, and there was certainly no shortage of those.

Besides, no matter how much it might have stung, there was never anyone else he would entrust with keeping Blaine and his family safe.

\---

The death of Blaine’s husband and daughter within less than a year of each other shocked the country and nearly destroyed Blaine. While parliament struggled to ensure the line of succession was secure (the youngest had forsworn his lineage and taken the cloth when he was 19, dedicating his life to God with the same zeal his father and sister dedicated themselves to their country. And Blaine’s only grandchild was barely more than a newborn) Blaine struggled to make it through the day.

After a month, he managed a brave face for the public but in private it had taken almost three years for him to emerge from the depths of his grief.

Sebastian, taken in as a friend and confidante, had been the only one allowed to see the extent of his devastation.

In the years after, it had brought them closer together. Closer to where they had been when they were young.

But for all the had changed, Blaine was still king and that wasn’t a world that Sebastian could belong to.

\---

On his 70th birthday, Blaine announced to the household that his granddaughter, Amelia, would be ready to rule in 2 years’ time and, on her 25th birthday, he would abdicate the throne.

The announcement had heralded the arrival of a glimmer of hope, which nested itself in Sebastian’s chest and grew a little every day.

“One day,” Blaine promised to him, in the secret moments every few years where they let the facade of propriety slip. “One day. When I'm not longer the King.”

Only, as one day approached, he backed away on his promise, citing continued obligations to the crown and his duty to mentor his Amelia in her early years of her reign. “As the King, I have a responsibility to the monarchy, even after I pass on the title,” he said earnestly and Sebastian knew by the look in his eyes that any argument would be futile.

Blaine's duty had, and would always be, first and foremost to the nation. 

“You were never just my king, Blaine. But if that’s how you prefer I see you… I live to serve you, Your Majesty.” Sebastian swept a formal bow, rusty from lack of use over the years.

Hope, after all, only bred misery.

\---

As Blaine prepared to abdicate, Sebastian prepared for his own retirement. He was getting old; his reaction time wasn’t as fast as it used to be and his eyesight was no longer sharp. He had never failed in his duty to protect the royal family but he wasn’t unwaveringly confident in his abilities anymore.  

“What will you do?” Amelia had asked him, with the wide-eyed innocence of youth. The same look he had seen in her grandfather’s eyes all years ago.

He didn’t have a plan. Once he had; to spend out the last of his days with Blaine. They would have traveled, for leisure and not out of duty. They would have spent whatever years they had left living out an entire lifetime. They would have _finally_ allowed themselves to be in love.

“Walk into a room and not run a mental security check on every person in it,” he said instead.

He would get a house somewhere quiet, he decided. Maybe by the sea. And spend his days rediscovering the hobbies he was sure he had once had before constant concern for Blaine consumed his life.

\---

Amelia’s coronation was described as the grandest affair the state had ever seen. It was true, at least in living memory. As was their tradition, the official celebration lasted three days, although the people turned it into a week-long event, bringing the country to a standstill for the duration of the festivities.

It was a sign of faith in the ruler Amelia would become. It was a gesture of remembrance for their Prince and Prince Consort, lost too many years too soon. It was a tribute to Blaine and the people’s love of him.

\---

On the first full day of Amelia’s rule, Blaine stayed up all night to watch the sunrise, just like he had done on his first day as monarch.

He wandered the castle grounds, still his home but no longer his, at least not in title. He maintained some land for himself, the properties inherited from his late-husband and the estate given to him on his 18th birthday but the vast majority of his possessions transferred along with the crown. 

He hadn’t asked for Sebastian to accompany him but he did, staying his customary three paces behind and silently sweeping the area for any sign of threat.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do anymore,” he admitted, pausing to watch the sun break across the horizon.

Sebastian stopped next to him and replied confidently, “You’ll figure it out.”

“I gave my whole life to my country. I don’t know that I exist without it.”

“You do. Of course, you do.”

Blaine bit his lip. “How can you be so sure?”

“Because,” Sebastian maneuvered himself so he was blocking Blaine’s view, forcing all of his attention on to him. “I’ve seen _you_ every day for the last 50 years. Not the king and the prince that you had to be. The real Blaine. ”

“Maybe I’ve just forgotten him.”

“I guess that's what you have me for. I’ll always be here to remind you.” The words fell out of his mouth without his consideration. A pledge he hadn’t known he was going to be making.

“Will you? Always be there?”

Sebastian sighed, feeling wrong-footed and at fault, even though Blaine had been the one to deny him. “That’s not fair.”

“I’m so sorry. For everything.” The corners of his eyes crinkled in anguish.

“I’m not.”

“I don’t know that I believe that. I haven’t been very fair to you.”

Sebastian had wanted more and he wasn’t going to say otherwise. But he had gotten to spend 50 years at Blaine’s side. It hadn’t fulfilled his every dream but it had been enough. “I’m not,” he repeated.

“Maybe it’s time for me to be selfish. To have something just for myself. That is,” Blaine said shyly, looking up at Sebastian from under his eyelashes, “if I’m not too late.” His hand reached out, hanging in invitation in the empty space between them.

Sebastian’s hand reached back automatically and without hesitation. Blaine’s hand was warm and familiar in his. For the first time in a long time, Sebastian found himself wondering what the rest of his body would be like. If it would be just as familiar and what areas he would have to learn for the first time. “Someone once told me that a king could never be late. Everyone else is just early.”

Blaine smiled, brilliant and blinding and swept his thumb over Sebastian’s knuckles. Sebastian’s breath hitched in his chest at the raw intimacy of the moment. Everything was bathed in gold from the rising sun and if there was a more perfect metaphor in the world, Sebastian couldn't think of it. 

The entire universe conspiring to offer, almost in apology, that moment just for them. 

“Look at us,” Blaine stepped towards Sebastian, closing the little distance that had remained between them, and wrapped his arms around his body. “Two old fuddy-dud’s, standing on a hilltop, watching the sunrise.”

“Sounds like something out of a fairy tale.”

“No,” Blaine shook his head empathetically and pressed a daring kiss to the underside of Sebastian’s jaw. “In a fairy tale this would be the ending.”

“And this,” Sebastian’s breath was stuck in his chest again and his nerves were catching fire in a slow smolder, starting from the spot Blaine had kissed. “This isn’t that?”

“This is the opposite of that.”

 


End file.
